Internet @ Schools

Follett Digital Resources has announced the signing of four additional publishers to eBook distribution agreements, bringing to 46,900 the total number of K-12 and public library titles available for purchase online through parent company Follett’s ecommerce sites, Titlewave (www.titlewave.com) and Titletales (www.titletales.com).

The four are: Tyndale House Publishers of Carol Stream, Ill., Compendium Publishing of London (UK), Trudy Corporation - Sound Prints of Norwalk, Conn., and WestEd of Los Alamitos, Calif. The agreements mean these publishers’ digital titles now are in front of 60,000 schools and libraries.

The Follett Digital Resources eBook distribution system uses four key pieces of technology to deliver eBooks:

- Virtual Warehousing - Where eBooks reside until sold to a Follett school or library customer

- Preview - Technology that allows buyers and patrons to preview pages of an eBook prior to purchase

- Virtual Shelves - Where eBooks are poised for checkout and reading by patrons once purchased by Follett school and public library customers

When a school or library buys an eBook title from Follett Digital Resources, the title is moved to a virtual shelf where it resides until it is checked out by a school or library patron. Digital rights management technology ensures that once a title is checked out by one person, it can’t be checked out by anyone else until it has been returned to the virtual shelf. Where possible, the eBook distribution system is tightly connected with leading integrated library systems (ILS), allowing searching, accessing and returning eBooks to become part of the library’s standard circulation process.